[ LETTER ]

Sat, Jan 13, 2018 - Page 8

Control Yuan confusion

The legislature is about to review the nominees for the Control Yuan.

Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), one of the nominees, said that he is excited about the opportunity, although the process for approving nominees lasted longer than he had hoped and that it would be have been possible to achieve a lot in the past 10 months.

Incumbent members have criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for nominating new members after having previously promoted abolishing the institution, saying that the party’s position is “confusing.”

Chen, Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲), Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) and the other eight nominees are all outstanding choices, but the main question is whether the Control Yuan should continue to operate.

Will it be abolished or will it be allowed to remain?

The DPP must be clear on this point instead of continuing to muddle along, saying that it still serves a purpose.

During the previous Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration, the DPP said that the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan should both be abolished and that view was supported by most voters.

Even think tanks that were pro the pan-blue camp thought that the Examination Yuan blocked national progress.

Unfortunately, the DPP stopped mentioning abolishing the two institutions when it was returned to power.

The DPP is now the ruling party and it holds a legislative majority, so there should be nothing to hold it back. Even if it cannot amend the Constitution, it should not nominate new members.

If the party cannot differentiate between what is right and wrong, and it only wants to continue to dish out powerful jobs, it will lose the support of the public.